Energy firms sitting on £3bn of our credit – how to get it back | Cheapest way to spend abroad
5/7/20261 hr 2 min
Martin Lewis brings you everything you need to know about the energy direct debit cycle. Explaining why this is perfect time of year to check your direct debits, how much you should be in credit or debt with your energy provider and what do you do if you’re too much in credit.
Martin explains the cheapest ways to spend abroad and why you should be thinking about it now.
A lovely Tell Us which looks at when your children have impressed you with their financial knowledge.
And Mastermind this week is all about your rights if you buy a faulty item.
If you want to ask Martin a question, you now can! His Question Time podcast lets you ask Martin absolutely anything and everything (within reason!) – so if you’ve always wanted to know his favourite ice cream flavour, if he’s ever pondered the meaning of life, or have a very complicated question about your personal finances, email it to MartinLewisPodcast@bbc.co.uk.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMartin Lewis· Host0:00
[upbeat music] The system is far from perfect. Arguably, it's quasi-broken.
Adrian Chiles· Host0:05
I don't know, it seems to work against the consumer every time.
Martin Lewis· Host0:08
But it's not designed to work for the consumer.
Adrian Chiles· Host0:10
No.
Martin Lewis· Host0:10
I think that's a mistake in the premise. If you might end up spending money that you don't have because you've got this facility, then it's not worth it. It's a really interesting question. Hello, I'm Martin Lewis, and this is the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's gonna be about. And this is our big topic episode where each week we lead on one main subject to help you save. Usually, most of it comes from my BBC Radio 5 Live show with Adrian Chiles. But there's also bonus money-saving tips just for you lucky, lucky podcast listeners. Let's get straight to it.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:43
[singing] I got bills I gotta pay. So I'm gonna work, work, work every day. I got mouths I gotta feed. I got mouths. I gotta feed. So I'm gonna make sure everybody eats.
Adrian Chiles· Host1:00
Martin Lewis, how you doing? What have we got for us this week?
Martin Lewis· Host1:06
I'm doing well. Well, we have a potpourri of subjects today. It's a split major, if you like. Two big topics. It's a bog-off that we're doing. First of all, energy direct debits. This is the perfect time of the year if you're on a monthly direct debit to check if you're in too much credit. Energy firms are sitting on £3 billion of our cash, and you can get it back. Then, what's the cheapest way to spend abroad?